The present invention generally relates to lacrosse sticks, and more specifically to an adjustable pocket in the head of a lacrosse stick.
This invention is used in the sport of lacrosse, which is considered the oldest team contact sport in North America, and one of its fastest-growing sports. Lacrosse is played with sticks called A crosse used for catching, carrying and throwing a ball into the opposing team's goal.
Referring to FIGS. 1-2, a conventional lacrosse stick 10 is shown. Lacrosse stick 10 generally includes a stick portion (not shown) and a head portion 16. One end of the stick can be affixed to throat 15 which may be part of head 16. The head of the lacrosse stick includes a frame. Strung across the frame, with varying degrees of looseness or tension, are flexible elements such as strings, thongs and/or netting material. Throat section 15 includes a ball stop area 27 for impacting a ball and a socket (not shown) for receiving the handle. A pair of sidewalls 26 meet in a bottom wall section 38 of the head, adjacent throat section 15 and proximate the ball stop area 27. Sidewalls 26 are joined at the top forming a lip or scoop 28.
Within the head frame, the thong and/or netting material are typically strung either traditionally (a complex pattern of leather and nylon strings woven together) or in mesh (a piece of mesh material attached to the head by nylon strings) to create what is known as a pocket. The had frame supports the flexible netting which creates a ball pocket, traditionally located in the midsection of the head. According to the jargon of the sport, a hall in play will be held in the pocket. The pocket is an area of slack in the flexible elements, creating a cup-shaped or generally V-shaped depression. An important factor in how each individual pocket throws (the degree up or down out of the pocket when the ball is released) is the tension, controlled in smaller part by the shooting strings and in larger part by longitudinal thongs. (Here, “tension” refers to the amount of slack or excess length in the flexible elements of the head.)
In a popular lacrosse stick type, head 16 may include 4-5 longitudinally extending thongs 17, two (for women) or three (for men) shooting strings 29, and a plurality of cross-laces 19. Thongs 17 may be made of rawhide, leather, nylon or other materials. Thongs 17 extend longitudinally along the head, and are connected to opposing walls of the head by apertures formed in the top or lip portion and apertures in the region of the throat. Cross-laces 19 form a transverse bracing for the pocket, intertwining between the thongs and connect to opposing sidewalls of the head using sidewall apertures. (U.S. Lacrosse Rule No. 9, §20 currently provides that 4-5 longitudinal leather and/or synthetic thongs shall be used, and that 8-12 knots/stitches of cross-lacing shall be used, with the 8-12 knots/stitches intertwining nylon cross-laces at a common place on a thong.
Thus, thongs 17 are conventionally strung through head apertures 21 and pulled to a desirable tension, forming with cross-laces 19 a generally cup-shaped trough for receiving a lacrosse ball, and secured to apertures 21 by a plurality of knots 23. To change the tension of thongs 17, knots 23 must first be un-done, which can be a cumbersome and time-consuming process, particularly in cold and/or rainy conditions when fingers are not limber and the knots may be damp.
The head may be made of a substantially rigid, light-weight material such as nylon or wood. Nylon 66 or wood are currently preferred materials. Reinforcing brackets (not shown) may be molded integrally with the sidewalls 30 and extend substantially normal to the interior surfaces of the sidewalls, adding rigidity to the sidewalls, and also serving as a ball retention aid because they overlay the netting in the vicinity of the ball pocket.
In the game of lacrosse, the head is used to catch the ball, hold and carry the ball, and pass or shoot the ball. To this end, there have been several attempts to improve the lacrosse head to enhance the playing of lacrosse. However, there has been no satisfactory means of providing a lacrosse stick head which enables on-the-fly adjustment of the pocket. This would be very useful, as referees typically check pocket depth for legality minutes before each game, and if the stick is found illegal, the pocket must be adjusted and re-checked immediately, or the stick must be removed from play. Currently, there is insufficient time to adjust pocket depth before a game if a stick is found to be illegal for this reason. The present invention allows on-the-fly adjustments to be made to the pocket depth in seconds, allowing a stick deemed illegal before a game to be adjusted and used in that same game.